Being a manager with hundreds of employees either directly reporting to me or reporting to my direct reports I have had to take part in many harassment investigations. In a number of these there is an electronic trail (emails, websites visited, etc.), so we will see if she has any of this sort of evidence. Everytime I have sat down with both parties, the stories have significantly diffent spins on them. Without electronic evidence or witnesses she will have a very hard time making her case.

Three things jumped out at me that make me question this woman. First, she says that the harrassment started soon after Thomas was hired in 2003 - I find it hard to believe she would wait until 2006 to do something about it. Second, upper level and HR managers in every organization are trained to handle these matters very seriously - I also find it hard to believe that the Knicks would fire someone after bringing up these allegations if there was even a hint of the truth. That would just be plain stupid. Third, this has quickly become very public and she appears to be after money if the $6.5M request for staying quiet is accurate - that answers the motivation part of it on her behalf for me.

Your reading contradicts my initial impression, but I am impressed by it nonetheless. As you say, without external evidence it often becomes a he/she said, he/she interpreted it that way sort of thing. There rarely seem to be outside witnesses to the critical incidents and even there they are subject to interpretation.

My initial thought was, funny how something like this would not happen to Dumars, but controversies such as these follow have a way of following Thomas around. Second, I am under the impression that when it comes to professional athletes and gratuitious sex the NBA sets the culture.

Obviously my inclination was largely based on prejudice, but I susepct the trial will definitely bring the facts to light as it normally does and the case will not be white or black.

_________________Far and away from the sound and the fury. . .

January 26th, 2006, 4:04 pm

theAlphaMale

Site Admin

Joined: August 6th, 2004, 1:25 amPosts: 4920Location: Hills of Auburn

I do agree with Yorick about contriversay following Thomas around. As I stated in another thread that his bad boy persona seems to not be just a persona. I have heard that Isiahs days are numbered in NY. He not only has done an embarressingly poor job of managing the Knicks roster, salary cap, coaches, but now his conduct outside of operations is giving the Knicks black eyes.

Quote:

January 30, 2006 -- ATLANTA ? Anucha Browne Sanders and Frank Murphy are listed as senior vice presidents with full-page bios in the Knicks media guide. Both worked under Isiah Thomas and both are gone now. Sanders left before filing a sexual harassment suit against Thomas. Two sources said Murphy's departure also came under suspect circumstances, despite the club's company line that he retired.

Two sources said Murphy, the senior VP of Basketball Operations who managed the team's salary cap and structured contracts, agreed to a "retirement settlement" late in preseason

The funny thing is that she has a BIO up for the Knicks job on a site called isiah.com

I certainly am not suggesting he did it cause these things are always shaky at best but there is a lot of smoke around...plus I don't like reading that Isiahs illegitamite son wants to meet him and the reports say Isiah will not

Knicks President and basketball legend Isiah Thomas was at the center of a bombshell lawsuit last night after a senior female employee alleged she had been the target of harassment.Anucha Browne Sanders, the team's former high-profile senior vice president of marketing, filed papers against the hoops great in Manhattan Federal Court yesterday - claiming Thomas called her a "b----" and asked her to have sex.

She said when she refused his advances, the 44-year-old married father replied: "What? I can't get any love today?"

Thomas' legal team immediately branded Browne Sanders an opportunist - charging her complaints followed a failed attempt to extort $6 million. And the lawyers charged she was using Hall of Famer Thomas' standing to aid her case.

"This lawsuit is a blatant attempt by Anucha Browne Sanders to get a large sum of money from Madison Square Garden by taking advantage of the celebrity status of our client," said Thomas' attorneys Peter Parcher and Sue Ellen Eisenberg.

"While still employed, she demanded from the Garden, as a condition of her departure, a payment of $6 million, which is more than 20 years of her salary."

But Browne Sanders says Thomas' alleged shabby treatment of her was so public that team members - including star player Stephon Marbury - joined in the abuse.

"The Knicks' star player felt free to refer to Browne Sanders as a 'black b----,'" the lawsuit states.

In another accusation sure to draw major attention, Browne Sanders claims Thomas worked with concierges at hotels frequented by visiting teams to encourage out-of-town players to go to certain bars and strip clubs and get drunk the night before a day game.

Thomas launched his alleged campaign against Browne Sanders - a former college basketball standout who became a rising executive - in March 2004, following a loss by the struggling Knicks, the suit claims.

He blamed their poor performance on a late-night public relations event the night before.

"Thomas grabbed Browne Sanders' arm and pulled her into a small room to the side of the team's locker room," the papers claim. "He yelled that the team was not going to do 'any more f------ events.'"

Browne Sanders was barred from speaking directly to team members, she said - a situation that got so bad she was forced to use cardboard cutouts of players in marketing campaigns.

A few months later, the 43-year-old mother of three from Short Hills, N.J., contends, Thomas made sexual advances.

"After the Knicks game on December 30, 2004, Thomas stopped Browne Sanders, hugged her tightly and said that he had determined why he and Browne Sanders 'had problems' with one another," the suit says.

"Thomas told Browne Sanders he was 'in love' with her."

The suit claims such advances became regular, and that she complained to team higherups - though no action was taken.

"On more than one occasion, [Thomas asked her] if she would meet with him outside of the office or 'offsite,'" the lawsuit contends. "Browne Sanders understood these requests as sexual advances, which she refused."

Browne Sanders also said she was ordered by Garden chairman James Dolan to create positions for unqualified employees - including two cousins of Marbury's and Dolan's gardener.

The situation came to a head last month. A Garden source said last night, "Before Christmas, she went to the management and said, 'Look, I'm a victim of harassment and I don't think I can work here anymore.'

"The Knicks said they would do a full investigation and she should take time off while that was done.

"Two or three days ago, she was officially fired. She said, 'If you want to let me go, you should pay me $6 million.'

"She was screaming and yelling and her behavior was erratic. The Garden made a tough call because it would have been easy for them to come to some kind of settlement, but they feel nothing has been done wrong here."

Browne Sanders' lawsuit, which claims discrimination and charges she was fired in retaliation for complaining, demands her reinstatement and a payment of damages. It doesn't state an amount.

Ron Green, the Garden's attorney, said last night, "This fabricated and outrageous charge comes from an individual who Madison Square Garden fired because of an inability to fulfill her professional responsibilities, and who is now seeking a financial windfall.

"We will fight these outrageous charges and defend our employees from allegations intended to embarrass and do harm to them."

But Kevin Mintzer, representing Browne Sanders, said, "Mr. Green was in our offices [yesterday] and acknowledged she had substantial claims.

"Even celebrities are not above the law, and it's pathetic that [Thomas] should hide behind his celebrity status. The $6 million claim is false, and [his legal team] know[s] it."

Browne Sanders was hired by the Knicks five years ago by Thomas' predecessor, Scott Layden. She became the only female senior manager at the Knicks - and a rising star in sports marketing who even had her own page in the Knicks yearbook.

Thomas, who has two children with his wife, Lynn, has her full support, said the source.

"She is outraged. She is totally 100% standing by his side," he said. "This is all done to embarrass him and get some money."

_________________Regards, Alpha|Lionbacker.com \(^o^)/"I date this girl for two years and then the nagging starts: I wanna know your name..." - Mike Binder

Zeke has to be one of the worst GM's ever! He just traded Antonio Davis for Jalen Rose, according to ESPN's Stephen A Smith. He has repeatedly traded for shooters who are in long-term contracts, or signed undeserving players to inflated long-term contracts. Marbury (can he really ever fit into Larry Brown's idea of what a point gurad should be?), Richardson Crawford and Rose all play the 2 and don't play D, finally the Jerome James fiasco that big turd is terrible and first started playing ball in college because his coach saw a 7 footer on campus and said he had to join the team. Played one good playoff series and that was enough for Zeke to think he was deserving of his monster contract. I almost forgot about Curry! He's half-decent but Thomas continuously overpays for lackluster players. On the upside he does have 3 great rookies in Frye, Robinson and Lee. But still they aren't the immediate answer and with the highest payroll in the NBA, the third worst record in the NBA, a bunch of undeserving players signed to big long-term contracts, and this sexual harassment scandal I don't think he can last much longer in the Big Apple. He might even reach a Millen-like status if he makes it through the whole season without being fired. Fire Thomas signs and a red out when the Pistons head to NYC in the middle of March?????